Review: Ears-on with the Legend ANC headphones from House of Marley (Video)

Back in January at CES 2015, we stopped by the House of Marley booth to check out some upcoming products, one of which, were the Legend ANC headphones. Since then, we’ve acquired a pair to thoroughly examine and it’s been a great experience so far…

If you’re into over-the-ear headphones, you’ll definitely want to give these a look. They are crafted with some very premium materials, have great sound, and as mentioned, active noise canceling. The headphones are constructed from stainless steel, recycled plastics, leather, and even wood.

From the unboxing experience to the build quality, there’s a lot of attention to detail happening with the Legend ANC headphones. I was pleasantly surprised to find a very durable carrying case included inside of the box along with a good amount of accessories which you can see in our full review video embedded below.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzfn-HFSrPU]

With these headphones you’re getting two detachable cables that are required for taking advantage of the features. The first cable is a standard audio cable with in-line controls and a microphone that works perfectly with iOS devices. The second cable is used to recharge the headphones internal battery which will allow you to take advantage of the active noise canceling feature. Both cables conveniently use the same Micro USB connection port located on the left ear cup. The cable is also secured by a loop system that will prevent it from being pulled out if it gets caught on anything.

Charging the battery didn’t seem to take too long, but honestly I never was able to completely kill it during my active use. House of Marley claims the battery life on the Legend ANC headphones is good for up to 20 hours of use and up to 26db of noise cancellation. Admittedly, I never had a chance to use them for 20 hours straight to test this, but every time I wanted to listen to music, the noise cancellation was ready to go. It’s also important to note that these headphones will work in passive mode as well so you don’t need to rely on the battery being charged up.

There was never a problem with wearing these headphones for a long period of time. The Legend ANC closed-back headphones are equip with fluffy leather pads covering up the 40mm drivers on each ear cup and a another on the inside of the head band at the top. As far as design goes, the sides are made from stainless steel and have FSC-certified wooden side caps along with a wood inlay on the top side which makes these headphones very attractive in my opinion. They also feature a collapsible design which allows for easy storage with the included travel case. Check out the above video for a closer look at the Legend ANC headphones.

These headphones definitely suit my preference in sound quality as well. With the 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response, I felt like it accurately represented the music I was listening to, and certainly compared well to some of my other favorite headphones around the house. Put on the headphones, flip on the active noise canceling with a switch on the side, play some music, and forget about everything else around you. The quality between the passive/active modes on the Legend ANC headphones is surprisingly comparable as well. I haven’t had a chance to fly with the Legend ANC headphones just yet, but I’ll be heading out at the end of February so I’ll have a chance to test their traveling abilities soon.

Overall, you can’t really go wrong with these headphones. Some may dislike the Micro USB port required to make the audio connection, but they are solid in every way that I’d prefer headphones to be. If you compare them to other active noise canceling headphones available on the market, I think these win in the design department and comparably priced. “Good” sound quality may be subjective, but I have definitely enjoyed my experience with these headphones. The Legend ANC headphones retail for $299 and can be purchased from House of Marley’s website or on Amazon.